


All You Ask of Me

by applexofmyeye



Category: Walking Dead RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-08
Updated: 2014-10-08
Packaged: 2018-02-20 08:21:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2421746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/applexofmyeye/pseuds/applexofmyeye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And they'd be right back in this mess they'd made. And no. Just no. He wasn't having any of it. After everything, she'd have to crawl. He deserved that much, didn't he?</p>
            </blockquote>





	All You Ask of Me

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 'music' challenge at Nine Lives. The song Light in My Darkness by Dirt Poor Robins was my inspiration.

Melissa moved quietly through Norman's house. She had shown up unannounced and let herself in with the key he had given her so long ago that she couldn't recall when it wasn't in her possession.

Today, she had a mission. And it might simply be one that took every ounce of guts and gumption she could muster. Her lips quivered slightly as she heard his shower shut off. Her hands clenched tightly at her sides.

It was now or never. She stepped into the master bedroom. "Norman, I couldn't wait a moment longer. This silence is killing me. You've ignored every text and call since Friday. And I'm here to make you talk or else." She put her hands to her hips and jutted one out to the side as she stood there in his bedroom. 

She had to at least look the part of steady, but on the inside, she was a mess. Her nerves were shot. She'd cried all she cared to cry, and she wasn't about to call this thing quits until they'd given it a fair shake.

The bathroom door opened. Water still clung to his hair and body, and a hasty knot had been tied in the towel that was low slung on his hips. 

"Melissa, I have nothing left to say. You want to let that crap online get the best of you, then have at it, but I won't be a party to it. They’re crazy shipping fangirls and I have no control over that fucking shit. Told you a long time ago though that I'm not fucking around on you with Emily or anyone else, but guess what?"

"What?" she snapped, unable to stop the edge her tone had taken. "I never said you were 'fucking' anyone but me, did I?" She gave a soft snort and an eyeroll. 

"May as well have. I know you don't like the politics that go into conventions, but you know this job. I was told to push the Beth and Daryl angle at San Diego. I do what I'm told by the ones who sign my paycheck."

"You over sold it, Norman. Why can't you see that? You didn't have to hang all over her, let her touch you..." Melissa sighed heavily, the green-eyed monster raged inside and she had no idea how to quiet it. She hated it. She'd never been this jealous a day in her life, but she had never been this in love with a man before either.

"You think I don't know that?" Norman hissed as he jerked a t-shirt over his head. He raked both hands through his hair roughly. The scowl on his face was enough to make her step back as he approached. "You think I liked her hanging all over me, touching me...?" He grabbed her right above the elbows and shook her slightly.

"Melissa, at every turn, I looked for you. I wanted you right there. You looking sexy as hell and sweet as honey. You make me happy, goddammit." He released her and reached for a pair of discarded jeans and managed to shove his wet self into them commando. 

He waved his hand into the air. "You, McBride. It's always you, but Emily doesn't know low key. She under does it or over does it. We both are well aware of the limitations. Hell. So is she." He gave a loud snort then, kicking the bedroom door closed.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned heavily against the door. He looked up at her through his shaggy hair. "Don't know what else I can say or do at this point. Either you trust me or you don't. I'm not gonna beg, sweetheart." His heart was hammering in his chest. He was playing fast and loose, but inevitably, it would always come back to this if she couldn't trust in them.

Melissa felt her knees go weak. That term of endearment, above all others, made her turn to mush. Something in how it sounded, something in how easily it rolled off his tongue. And he'd stopped using it with anyone other than her. It was hers. 

Her hands moved to her hair, pushing it in whichever direction it wanted to go, and she whispered, "I love you."

He nodded, shrugging a bit. "I love you, too. Love isn’t an issue. Trust is." He pulled his hands free from his pockets and moved toward her. He cupped her cheek gently and then lifted her chin so their eyes locked. "You really that scared of me breaking your heart?"

"Norman, how can you even ask me that? You know I know all about the string of models and those two interns from season one." She'd be nothing but honest with him, never had been. "You hadn't even broken it off with Cecilia that night we first kissed."

He released her and moved to the unmade bed and dropped onto it. He buried his face in his hands. "Yeah, and who since then, huh? Tell me. Just. You." He looked up at her. The pain he was feeling was so raw it tinted his features. "Damn it. You have my heart more than she ever did, and you know it. Hell, you know I was breaking it off with her. We'd discussed it at length. It was over for me long before that kiss. Damn it, Melissa." 

He stood up, gesturing wildly. He moved into her space. "And you can't even trust me?" He snorted as his head shook back and forth. "All I fucking want is you. You!" He backed her up against the wall, pinning her between his body and his arms as they rested on both sides of her head. "When you gonna get that through your head?"

She'd never been scared of him. He was a giant teddy bear really, but he had his moments and this was one of them. Her eyes moved up, locking on his. Her hands moved out, grabbing his hips and pulling him forward until they crashed against one another.

"Guess I'm a slow learner," she breathed. When he tried to pull away, she kissed him. Her tongue slid along his lip. He turned his head away from her. She frowned. "Norman, please?"

He shook his head. "Sex won't fix this, Melissa. It won't." He pushed himself away, angrier now that his body was betraying him and hardening where it shouldn't. "I won't fall into bed with you and have all this up in the air. Damn it. Can't you see I need more from you?"

She frowned, frozen in place against the wall. "I'm trying, damn it." Her blue eyes flashed electric blue. She rarely cussed, but he was making her angry. "I can't just flip a switch. Doesn't that count for something?"

He paced the length of the room and turned at the greatest distance from her. "Yeah, but it doesn't fix this. Can't you understand that? I'm ready to grow up, give up all those wild ways. For you!" His eyes locked on hers. "And that's not enough for you. It's never enough." 

His bare feet smacked the hardwood floor as he moved to the door, yanking it open. He disappeared into the hallway. "I need a fucking smoke." He patted his pockets, finding none. "Fuck." He'd smoked the last one before his shower and had been planning a bike run to go get a pack.

She hurried after him. She wasn't letting him out of her sight until they sorted this. She grabbed him by the elbow and spun him around. "Norman, please?" The taste of him on her lips from their brief kiss moments before still lingered, but she needed more.

"Melissa..." Her name sounded like a swear word as it slipped from his lips, and in truth, it probably was. "You gotta make up your mind, and until you do, I don't want to be part of these games. Got it?"

"Fine." She pushed at his chest and heard his back smack the wall of the opposite side of the hall. "You don't want me here, then I'm gone."

He grabbed her elbow, gripping it tighter than he'd ever held on to any person in his life. "Sweetheart, I want you here, but you can't get it through your thick head..." He raised his free hand, tapping her temple. "...that you're the only fucking one I want."

He released her with a slight shove and brushed passed her. "Come back when you want to discuss this like adults." He shoved his feet into his boots, grabbed his keys and headed for the door. 

~ - - ~

In his haste to leave, he forgot his phone, but he'd be damned if he was going back for it. She had managed to push all his hot buttons, and he wasn't sure that he could even talk rationally if he had to see her again right now. She'd no doubt get the wrong idea and then he was likely to slip and let her curl up against him. 

And they'd be right back in this mess they'd made. And no. Just no. He wasn't having any of it. After everything, she'd have to crawl. He deserved that much, didn't he?

~ - - ~

Melissa slumped down on the couch. The couch they'd made love on. Numerous times. The memories of his touch, of his kisses, evaded her mind. She kicked off her shoes and curled into the pillow that smelled like him. And the tears began to fall. 

Tears. She'd thought she'd had none left to give. It wasn't Norman that was holding her back. It was her. All of it. She'd been so afraid of being hurt, that she never put herself out there. 

He'd caught her by surprise. And she'd been struggling to catch up ever since. And now she'd crashed headlong into a love that gripped her heart and soul. And still, she fought it tooth and nail.

And why? Why? Damn it! She didn’t even know the answer to that question herself.

~ - - ~

Hours later when he returned, he found her car still parked in his driveway, and he had half a mind to just head back out and ride. She'd have to leave eventually, but that was the old him. The old him that didn't face his problems head on, but instead, he ran from them.

And it said something that she was still here, didn't it?

He moved up onto the porch and slipped quietly into the house. He dropped his keys on the table, kicked off his boots and went in search of her. She wasn't on the couch where he thought he'd find her, so he decided to go out on the back deck that overlooked the lake. He frowned when he didn't find her there. 

Moving back into the house, he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and moved quietly back through the hall and toward the bedroom. "Mel?" His voice refused to cooperate and it came out as more of a squeak than anything else. He unscrewed the cap and took a long, slow swig before he pushed the ajar bedroom door open the rest of the way.

He leaned against the door frame and let out a soft sigh. There she lay curled up in the fluffy comforter, the one that she'd picked out in the first place. He could see the tissues that lay crumpled in her hand. His heart gave a shudder as he moved slowly to the bed.

Sitting down gently, he reached for her hand, taking the tissue and laying it aside before he slowly slid into bed with her. He pulled her tight against his chest, letting her head rest just over his heart. He could feel that she was awake without having to see her eyes. He whispered, "I've never walked into anything in my life without knowing where I stood, sweetheart. So I guess I'm just as scared as you are. Cause that's it, isn't it? You're scared that I'm going to break your heart..."

She hugged his waist even tighter than she already had been and buried her face into his shirt. The tears had already started again, and she was ashamed of them. Ashamed that she was a grown woman and couldn't get a handle on her love life. Her head nodded slowly. That's when she felt his fingers sliding under her chin, lifting her face so their eyes could meet. She blinked then held his gaze. Her lips quivered. "Yeah."

"We can figure this out together. I mean, we know we love each other. We just have to...to work on it." He wiped her tears away gently with the pad of his thumb and whispered, "I just need you to be able to trust me, but we can...go slow."

She shifted, bringing herself up against him so they were eye level. Blue on blue. "It's not you that I don't trust. It's me. I've never done this. I've never been in love like this. Never." Her eyes shifted, going down to the space between them then back up again. "But with your help, I know we can make this work." She leaned in, rubbing her nose against his and breathing him in.

The taste of peppermint with a hint of stale cigarette smoke always made her toes curl. Always. Her lips brushed against his softly. "We’ve got all day today. Why don't we ride?"

He liked the idea. "You got your camera? Found this wicked little spot out past Newnan. I mean, it's a drive, sure, but it's worth it, Mel." He got excited then, taking her hips in his hands, giving them a squeeze. "We can grab a blanket and some picnic stuff. Nothing too fancy..."

She laughed softly, drying the last of her tears before laying her head against his shoulder once more. "Sounds perfect,” she whispered.


End file.
